Actually I’ve ran into this a few times before, it’s definitely not uncommon.

Depending on how small/underground this is, it may very well be needed to cover pressing costs. Or it might be a cost similar to running an ad. My non-metal band has gotten an offer from a fairly established nation-wide magazine. They start with say 4-5 songs from recognizable names that they’ve been given by labels for promo (labels they probably have some sort established advertising relationship with). Then the magazine contacts and offers emerging artists the option to pay to appear on the CD, in which case the band is basically paying for advertising and getting to appear alongside established acts. I was actually a bit surprised by, they even had costs broken down depending on where you wanted your song to go in the track order.

We’ve also received offers from smaller independent labels putting out compilations, where each band pays a ‘submission’ fee and then get x number of CDs to sell or give away or whatever. In this case I’m sure most of the money went to pressing.

We didn’t go in for any of these offers, choosing to spend our money pressing our own CDs and whatnot, but it might be worth it. I’d probably look at it as whether the size of your band compared to the reach of the zine justifies spending the money as an advertising cost or not.

UNLESS, it's some really underground zine that distributes the stuff for free and needs the money to do the printing, but I've never seen such a thing as asking for money to join a compilation.

I actually have seen and participated in this very situation. Back in '98 my old band paid to be on a compliation for the mag The Grimiore Of Exalted Deeds, which at the time was given away for free. Hindsight in 2012 says that this was probaly was a waste of money, but at the time we were stoked to be on a well known underground mag's comp. Plus we were real stoked when we got the discs, because a Mercyful Fate bootleg song was included (which was unknown to us when we signed up to participate). "Dude, we're on a comp with Mercyful Fate!"

Not uncommon especially if it's an underground label/zine. I would expect a reasonable number of copies that I could sell to recoup the money I'd be paying in and I'd want to make sure the other bands on the comp were serious and on a notariety level similar to my own band or more so to ensure that the other bands copies will be distributed and that the point of the comp and paying to be on it (getting your name / music out there) will be achieved.

Well, hold on now. The Grimiore put out multiple volumes of this comp, I believe. It's common knowledge that Bill Zebub is a MF fanatic, as well as friendly with King Diamond himself, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that the multiple volumes of compilations he put out have multiple bootlegged Mercyful Fate material (if that's what you were going by).

At any rate, the one we were on was Legion Of The Scroll #7 and my band at the time was Coagulated Blood. That was a rough, rough recording and the 1st 2-3 seconds of the song got cut off somehow.

That would be a mindfuck beyond belief if people other than me still have copies of this comp (I kept copies for myself, because I am obsessive about my personal "discography"). We actually took the 50 or so copies (can't exactly remember how many copies we got) and packaged it with our self made EP ($100 Murder), when we released it in 2000 (yes, we sat on these comps for nearly 2 years. Sound investment, right?!?).

It's not so much that I want to have my own copies. This is more of an opportunity to be heard, so I'm not worried about putting the money into my own releases so to speak. But I still don't want to let others profit from my work, it's more of a principal matter.

But I still don't want to let others profit from my work, it's more of a principal matter.

Well, it kinda goes both ways. It can be good exposure for a band, but conversely a zine will want to have good music to give to its readers. Ideally it will be mutually beneficial, but it really depends on the specifics. 66.6 does seem like a pretty nominal fee, so it’s not that much of a risk.

So it's not to cover for the expenses of pressing the cd itself? That was my first thought, but I'm not so sure anymore.

$66 from each band to cover the pressing of a CD? That's not even close to equal. Whatever magazine this is for, it's a ripoff. Don't do it. Tell them to eat shit, because they are ripping you off. My band has been featured on two compilations, one of which was included with a 'zine. I've never even heard of someone paying to get included on a comp for a 'zine.

How many bands will be featured on the compilation? Lets try to undershoot it, and assume it's only 8 bands:

$66.6 from each band included on the comp, times the 8 bands, equals $532.80... There are 300 'zines being printed, and I'm sure eventually, they'll all sell. How much will they be sold for? Lets try to undershoot this again, and say $4 each? $4 per 'zine, times 300 copies, equals $1200. The $1200 alone will cover the cost of printing the 'zine with money to spare, I'm sure. But if you add the $532 taken from each of the bands, that equals $1732. I'm sure more than 8 bands will be included, and I wouldn't be surprised if the 'zine sold for more than $4 per copy, especially if he's going to cover shipping in the total cost, so the $1732 may be undershooting as well. If he sells the 'zines for $5 instead of $4, and has 10 bands on the comp instead of 8, the total money brought in before expenses is $2166.

I know the guy has to make his money, but those numbers are absolutely absurd.

I did miss that, actually. Thanks. I heard of this for the first time yesterday, when a friend posted something about it on Facebook. I don't know. If you really want the exposure that badly, pay the money, but personally, I wouldn't do it.

I am featured on two comps currently. I didn't get charged for either and for both I get copies of the comp. One of them is on a 7" and each band gets 5 copies, and the other one I get a few copies of. To me it depends on who is getting the comp and how many people. If its more then 500 or so people then I would say go for it. 66 divided by 500 people is 13 cents a person who gets the zine which imo is a good deal. It all depends on what you would rather have; more potential fans or money in your pocket that can spend towards something might have a little more hold on (merch, demos, equipment, etc.) If you have at least 4 band mates I don't see why not.

this is extremely common actually. my band has done it several times. of course it's not always a good idea lol, it all depends on how good your track is, how many copies are being handed out, and even more importantly 'where' they're being handed out. you have to weigh the options based on that. my band payed 160 to get on a compilation last year, several thousand copies were handed out free at many festivals throughout europe (keep it true being one of them, which is also our target audience) and 2 of the bands on the compilation were manilla road, and helstar, so it definitly seemed like a good idea to us at the time.

Bands I've been in have landed on about ten comps over the years. Never paid a cent for any of them. But, if it gets you exposure and, in the long run, helps you get more fans, then I'd chalk it up to advertising as some suggest. But, having only 300 copies means, at best, you may only get exposed to a thousand or so people (figuring everyone who gets a disc plays it for their peeps) and of those, how many are driven to your bands website, etc? $66 bucks isn't much in the grand scheme of advertising, I'd bet you could get that in one gig (after paying everyone in the band) with no problem. On the flipside, for a few hundred, you could press your own disc...

_________________So heavy if you breathe it your lungs will collapse.IRON1

I remember Profane Existence used to do this back when they still published in print. Bands interviewed in the magazine would get a track for free. I think it was $90 for a 3 (or maybe 4) minute track and a bit extra for every subsequent minute. If my crust band at the time was capable of producing anything worth hearing I totally would have done it. It was pretty big in the crust scene. Although I no longer agree with the politics, I miss that magazine.